The Pain Inside
by runonrain
Summary: Zuko and Katara deal with something they never wanted to happen to their children: Pain.
1. Introduction

I've decided to make this prompt into a 4 parter. So I hope you'll forgive me when I only upload half of the story today.

Also, the steambabies' names do have meaning. The eldest: Mua Lai's name is Vietnamese for redemption. Zuko had always wanted redemption and his honor and all that so I thought that was a good choice for his first born. Hanzo: I have to admit, I stole his name from Kill Bill. Hanzo is an excellent swordsman so I thought is would fit perfectly seeing as Hattori Hanzo was the best swordmaker in all the land in Kill Bill. Also, it sounds cool. And finally, little Luzi. In Spanish, Luz means light. Fire is a source of light and Luzi is a bright little cutie pie, who firebends, at age 5. Perfect. That is all. Enjoy!

Day 3: Pain

**Part I: Intro**

After the Southern Raiders, Katara learned Zuko wasn't all he seemed. She learned to share with him, not only items, nut emotions. They shared joy when he became Fire Lord. They shared pain when they found out Zuko's mother, Ursa, was dead. They shared every range of emotion from fear to, eventually love. And soon they shared children. First came Mua Lai. Katara asked to name her after her best friend from the Southern Water Tribe. Zuko obliged. In turn, he named the second child: Hanzo. He was every bit his father's son. The final, somewhat unexpected child was Luzi. Little Luzi was always there to cheer her family up. The one thing Zuko and Katara never hoped to share was their children's pain. They wanted them to grow up without pain. But, they both knew that no life was painless.


	2. Mua Lai

**Part II: Mua Lai**

Princess Mua Lai sat crying in her room. Rumor had it that her father, Fire Lord Zuko, had taken a nasty tumble down a flight of stairs after a meeting in the Earth Kingdom. It was her nature to overreact and think something serious had happened, especially when she heard it from the Palace Guards gossiping and not from her mother or someone else. Servants told Fire Lady Katara of her cries and she hurried to her daughter's side

"Lai, what's wrong?" Katara asked hugging her 14 year old and rubbing her back.

She sobbed into her mother's chest. "What happened to daddy?" Her word were almost not understandable behind her cries. "Is he dead?"

"Lala, I don't know what you're talking about."

"The guards. They said he fell. No one told me about it."

"Honey, he tripped down a five foot stair case, I'd be surprised if he got more than a bruise. In fact, I think those guards were making fun of him." Katara chuckled.

"Why are you laughing? This is serious! Dad could have died if he landed the wrong way!" Mua raged. "Do you know what would happen if he had?" She came to her feet and began stomping around the room.

"I think you may be taking this too serious. It was a simple fall." Katara insisted.

"But he's so careless. What if he accidentally falls down a really big flight of stairs? He'll die and I'm not ready!" She pounds her fist on the dresser.

The Fire Lady stands up in confusion. "I don't understand. What are you not ready for?"

"I'm not ready to become Fire Lord!" The young princess shouts.

Katara sighs. "So that's what this is about."

Earlier that month, Mua Lai was informed that Ex-Fire Lord Ozai had changed the policy for becoming Fire Lord from 'first born son' to 'next of kin' to fit Azula. Hanzo rejoiced in finding out he didn't have to run a country, but Mua Lai had been secretly stressing over it.

"Yes. I'm going to be the first woman Fire Lord. Do you know how much weight that is on my shoulders?"

"You need to stop worrying." Katara walked over and brushed a loose strand of the girl's hair behind her ear. "Did I ever tell you that I was the first female trained in water bending at the Northern Water Tribe?"

"Yes." Mua's hand falls from the dresser. "But that's different. You didn't have the fate of the Fire Nation resting on you."

"That's true." She agrees. "I had the fate of the world on my shoulders. If your Uncle Sokka, your Uncle Aang and Auntie Toph and I had failed, the world would've crumbled under Ozai's rule."

"But I'm scared. I don't want to disappoint anyone."

"And you won't. You'll not only be the first, but the greatest Fire Lady to act as Fire Lord. You'll inspire people. You inspire me every day."

Mua Lai wipes her runny nose on her sleeve. "You really think so?"

"I know so." Katara embraced her child once more. "Now, let's go pick some Sun Poppies for your father for when he returns."

The ladies stroll out into the palace gardens, holding hands, and giggling.


	3. Hanzo

Yeah, late Zutara week entry. My laptop broke and I had to wait to get it fixed so I decided to do "Belated Zutara Week"

**Part III: Hanzo**

While feeding turtleducks with her daughter, Katara noticed her son Hanzo sitting on the bench with head down. Concerned, she headed to see what wad wrong.

"I'll be right back Lai."

The Fire Lady noticed Hanzo's wolf tail/top knot was falling off. He was sweating and had many small cuts throughout his arms. He looked as if he had just returned from battle.

"Hanzo, what happened." His surprised mother asked. "Who did this to you?"

"No one. I did it." He responded. "Not intentionally, though."

"Why are you all cut up?"

"It's nothing," The Prince stood up and walked away. "Don't worry about it, mom."

She grabbed his arm before he could get to far. "You tell me how this happened to you right now." The look on her face wad dead serious.

Hanzo sighed. "I was practicing with my sword. I kept doing this new move wrong and cut myself a couple of times. No big deal."

"Yes, it is a big deal! You could have seriously injured yourself! And why were you practicing? You said your instructor didn't assign you homework."

"I thought I needed more practice." He shrugged.

"He's lying." Leaning on the apple tree at the edge of the garden was, no other than Toph Bei Fong. She'd been staying at the palace while Aang and Zuko were away at Earth Kingdom meetings.

"Who asked you?" Hanzo argued.

"Is she right? Are you lying to me?"

He was about to respond no, but deemed it useless seeing Toph was there. "Yes."

"So why were you really practicing?"

"I want to be a good swordsman. Like Dad. I want you two to be proud of me." He looked down, ashamed.

"We are proud of you." Katara insisted.

"You two are ashamed of me. I know it. It took you guys three years to tell the Fire Nation that I'm a waterbender. I heard what people said when you told them." Hanzo's bright blue eyes began to redden. "One day, when I was going to the market to get some flameberries, everyone was whispering about me. 'Ooh. Look, It's the Crown Prince. Did you know he can't bend fire?', 'How would a waterbender know how to run the Fire Nation?' 'What a shame.' I've never went outside the palace gates since. Why do you think they were so quick to name Mua Crown Princess? I figured if I followed in my dad and uncle's footsteps with swords, everyone would begin to accept me."

"We accept you. Maybe some of our people don't, but your father and I don't care. We love you just the way you are, Han."

He smiled. "Thanks, mom."

Toph's voice suddenly interjected the family moment. "Sparky's here."

Surely enough, seconds later, the Palace Guards came to tell the same thing. "Fire Lady, friends and family, I have come to inform you that the Fire Lord and the Avatar have arrived."

"Dad's here?" Mua Lai's voice called from across the garden. Without an answer, she dashed to the entrance gates, her brother following close behind. The Fire Lord had returned.


	4. Luzi

This chapter would've been Day 4: Date.

**Part IV: Luzi**

The Fire Lord opened the doors of his palace to two of his children charging at him with arms opened, ready to tackle their dad for a hug. He struggled to regain his balance after the strong embrace. Zuko was quite surprised, his children had never been so ecstatic to see him. Moments after, he saw his wife, Fire Lady Katara walking to them. They shared a hug, then a small kiss. Wondering what was going on with their kids, he decided to ask.

"Katara, honey. Who replaced our children?" He whispered in her ear.

"It's a long story, I'll tell you tonight." She replied, also hushed.

Zuko and his wife seemed to notice something at the same time. "Where's Luzi?" They asked in unison.

While Hanzo simply shrugged, Mua Lai responded quickly, "Nowhere, well, her room, but don't go there, we all know she's there now, so why look for her?"

Zuko suspected something. "Lai, honey, what happened to Luzi?"

"Nothing."

Footsteps resounded from the hallway. "You guys do know I'm still here, right?" The blind earthbender sensed deception.

Fire Lord Zuko and Fire Lady Katara raced up the stairs to their youngest child's room. When they reached the 5 year old, they barged in without knocking. Luzi was in a bathrobe and was drying her hair. Caught off guard, she scrambled to kick a pile of clothes under her bed. Her parents got there first.

"Why are your clothes all wet?"

"I-," she began but was interrupted by her older sister, "She fell into the pond."

Toph once again set the record straight, "You do know what they mean by human lie detector, right?"

"I spilled my glass of water on her."

"Lie."

"I put a bucket of water on her door as a prank."

"We could go on forever, couldn't we?"

Luzi spoke before her sister had a chance. "Waterbending."

They all turned to Hanzo. "Don't look at me." He said, biting his nail. Their eyes then averted to the Crown Princess, whose cheeks were now as red a the clothes she was wearing. "I told you to be quiet about that Lu!"

"Quiet about what exactly?" Her father asked.

"Uh... uh." Mua Lai searched for words to cover up what she had done, but found none. "I'm a Waterbender."

Toph decided to share her knowledge. "Aang was telling me about those! Double benders, I mean. He met a boy who could bend fire and earth once in Ba Sing Se. They're extremely rare." Toph went up to the girl. She poked her in the cheek. "Hey, you don't feel any different than anyone else!" She sighed, "Speaking of multiple benders, where's my twinkle toes?" She stood in silence for a bit, trying to find him. "Aah. The kitchen, with Sokka obviously." She went off to find him.

"Why didn't you tell us, honey?" Katara asked sweetly.

"Because, I thought you would think I was weird. And that you would take my title away. The Fire Nation isn't very fond of water benders."

"Thanks." Hanzo said sarcastically.

"Oh, sorry."

"Come here, Lala," her father said. He enveloped her in a hug. "We don't care if you can't bend anything, we still love you." Katara joined the hug. "All of us, right Hanzo?" Hanzo sighed, rolled his eyes, then joined the hug as well.

Zuko, once again noticed his youngest daughter was missing. "Where's Luzi now?" The family separated, then went to find her.

Zuko and Katara went to Toph first. She was in the hallway. Breathless, from running, they asked the earth bender, "Toph, have you seen Lu?"

"No, I haven't **seen** her." She waved a hand in front of her face. "She's in the washroom. Not taking a bath, though." She pointed a little down the hall. She hit the wall and the door unlocked, and swung open.

Little Luzi was in the middle of the tub, crying. Katara sighed. For some reason, each of her children decided to have their problems that day. The Fire Lord went to console his crying child.

Sniffling Luzi asked, "Do you still love me?"

Dumbfounded, he replied, "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because I'm not special. I'm not a waterbender, like Han, or Crown Princess like Lai. I'm ordinary. You and mom spend all your time with them, I didn't know if you didn't love me anymore."

Katara lifted the young firebender up and kissed her forehead. "I don't know how you got a crazy idea like that in your head. Just because we're helping your brother and sister with their problems doesn't mean we don't love you."

"Or want to spend time with you." Zuko finished. "In fact, we're going to spend all day with you tomorrow to show how sorry we are for neglecting you. You want to go to the Fire Lilly festival tomorrow?"

Luzi's face lit up. She began bouncing up and down. "Yeah, daddy!"

"Why don't you go tell Auntie Toph she's going to have to baby-sit Mua Lai and Hanzo tomorrow?"

"Sure, daddy." She dashed out of the room, eager for tomorrow.

Katara had a sly smirk on her face. "Do you remember what happened at a Fire Lilly festival?"

Zuko laughed, "Our first date. You looked so beautiful with that Fire Lilly in your hair. It matched your outfit perfectly."

She reached up to kiss him. "Oh, and Zuzu, I was wearing my Water Tribe clothes that day."

The Fire Lord blushed, realizing his mistake. His Fire Lady Laughed. "Hey, what do you say I put them on, you put your hair in that pony tail and we go upstairs and 'restore your honor'?"

"What would dressing up- oh." He realized her innuendo. They ran upstairs quicker than an airbender.


End file.
